Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Some kind of magic ian gets back in action in Find Stakes
Multiple stakes winner Somekindofmagician makes his seasonal debut Sunday in Laurel’s $75,000 Find Stakes for Maryland-bred or -sired 3-yearolds and up at 1 1/16 miles.
The Find is one of three stakes scheduled for turf on the Father’s Day program along with the $100,000 Stormy Blues for 3-year-old fillies at 5 1/2 furlongs, and the $75,000 All Brandy for Maryland-bred or -sired fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles.
Gary Contessa took over Somekindofmagician’s training last year. Somekindofmagician came to him 200 pounds overweight, and Contessa said he wasn’t sure he could pull a rabbit out of the hat and get Somekindofmagician fit.
“I didn’t think I’d get him to the races, let alone win,” Contessa said. “The more he trained, I really liked him.”
After two failed efforts against claimers, Somekindofmagician captured four of his last five starts in 2021, including the Find in August and the Maryland Million Turf on Oct. 23, his last start of the year.
“The entire year, we were nursing some arthritis,” Contessa said. “At the end of the season, we went in with an arthroscope and cleaned up his ankles.”
Contessa feels the 8-year-old gelding is “training as good or better” than last year.
While Somekindofmagician’s recent layoff was due to a rehab stint, the returns of his Find rivals Street Copper and Cannon’s Roar were delayed by weather. They’ll run for the first time since finishing third and fourth behind Somekindofmagician in the Maryland Million Turf.
Trainer Michael Trombetta said he entered the 7-year-old Street Copper on turf this year, but the race was run on dirt so the horse didn’t get a chance to run.
“I’m hoping he’s fit enough,” he said.
Cannon’s Roar, the beaten favorite in both the Find and Maryland Million Turf, earned three stakes-placings in 2021. He was entered to run in a turf race that ended up on the main track in June, said trainer Dale Capuano.
Capuano said that Cannon’s Roar is “pretty fit.”
“I’ve been training him knowing I’d have to run long first time back,” he said.
Audacious Quality and B Determined step up after facing allowance company over the last month, giving each a recency edge over the three favorites. The Wolfman stretches out with the speed to be a forward factor. Plot the Dots is stakes-placed on dirt.
Lacco Ameno, Nick Papagiorgio, Johng, and Mint Game also were entered.
Stormy Blues Stakes
Fly Me Home was entered to run on turf in all three of her races, but the Stormy Blues will be her turf debut.
The Temple City filly had her her three races taken off the turf and run on the main track, winning her last two.
“We felt that based on her pedigree that she would like the grass,” said trainer Michael Stidham.
Fly Me Home hasn’t been headed at the pace call in any of her races, and Stidham expects her on the lead. She won a maiden sprint at Laurel in April and an allowance sprint at Pimlico in May.
“She’s pretty aggressive where her head goes up and she wants to do too much early,” Stidham said. “We think getting to the grass will take her to that next level.”
Artos and Derrynane look like the fillies to beat. Artos finished fourth in the Group 2 Queen Mary at Royal Ascot last year. She recently finished third, a head behind 2021 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint winner Twilight Gleaming, in the Mamzelle at Churchill.
Derrynane won the Woodbine Cares Stakes on the turf last fall. She receives Lasix for the first time after finishing fifth in Belmont’s Grade 3 Soaring Softly on May 28.
Buy the Best was one of the Mid-Atlantic region’s better juvenile fillies last year. She won her last four starts, including the Smart Halo on Nov. 13 and the Gin Talking on Dec. 26. She’ll try turf for the first time on Sunday.
Mulitple stakes-placed Poppy Flower switches back to her preferred surface after a fitness-building seasonal debut at Belmont.
All Brandy Stakes
Will Can the Queen successfully stretch her speed around two turns? That’s one of the more compelling storylines in the All Brandy.
The gate-to-wire winner of the five-furlong The Very One at Pimlico on May 20, Can the Queen has never raced beyond six furlongs.
“I’ve got some confidence in her,” said trainer Rodolfo Sanchez-Salomon. “I know she’s a sprinter, but if she can save something in the beginning, she’ll be fine.”
Tais Lyapustina picks up the mount. On paper, the 6-year-old looks like the controlling speed, but Sanchez-Salomon has other ideas.
“I don’t think so,” SanchezSalomon said. “If she grabs the bit, she’ll go. If the jock keeps still, she’ll rate.”
No Mo Lady earned three stakes-placings last season and got two races in this spring over Woodbine’s Tapeta surface.
“I figured my safest bet was to leave her up there so I wouldn’t be interrupted by weather,” said her trainer, Mike Trombetta.
I’m Blushing, Coconut Cake and Epic Idea can also contend.